A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE FOUND IN AN ARTS COUNCIL'S EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

MIAMI UNIVERSITY
The Graduate School
Certificate for Approving the Dissertation
We hereby approve the Dissertation
of
Katherine K. Smith
Candidate for the Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Director
Kathleen Knight-Abowitz
Reader
Thomas Poetter
Reader
Michael Evans
Reader
Lisa Weems
Graduate School Representative
Stephanie Danker

ABSTRACT
A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE WITHIN AN ARTS COUNCIL’S EVENTS AND PROGRAMS:
FINDING JOY, EXPRESSION, CONNECTION, AND PUBLIC GOOD IN THE ARTS
by Katherine K. Smith
City Township made a township-level decision to utilize arts events and programming to
create community formation within its public. A non-profit entity entitled the Arts Planning
Council was established to harness the aesthetic experience within the arts and to address the
deep state cuts to the township budget. My aim was to understand the formation of a community
based arts education program, how it contributes to the meaning and creation of community, how
human connection is created through existential aesthetic experience, and how it can lend a
feeling of communitas (V. Turner, 1969) among township members.
Through the interpretive discourse and the methodology of hermeneutical
phenomenology, I analyzed how the Arts Planning Council made meaning of the aesthetic
experiences that occurred in their arts events and programming that result in community creation.
For two years, I functioned as a participatory observer and conducted formal and informal
interviews with Arts Planning Council board members, township trustees, and township
administrators. I applied horizontalization (Moustakas, 1994) to cluster significant statements
from their accounts into consistent themes of understanding. Using the emerging themes of the
arts as joy, the arts as expression, the arts as connection, and the arts as a public good as
generative guides for writing, I divided the study into sections that elaborate on the phenomenon
of the aesthetic experiences within the arts events and programming and how those experiences
lead to community creation.
I concluded that the members of the Arts Planning Council and township trustees
understand the receptive joy, expression, and connection derived from the liminal experience of
the arts creation and participation. The resulting feeling of spontaneous communitas lends a
desire to continue communitas into a normative state. Ultimately, desire engenders a joint aim to
deliver the arts as an irreducible, social good. This idea interrupts the discourse that arts
education should only occur in schools and makes the responsibility for educating the public one

held by all township members. The result is an ecology of education built within the revitalized
community of City Township.

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE WITHIN AN ARTS COUNCIL’S EVENTS AND PROGRAMS:
FINDING JOY, EXPRESSION, CONNECTION, AND PUBLIC GOOD IN THE ARTS
A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Faculty of
Miami University in partial
fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Educational Leadership
By
Katherine K. Smith
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
2016

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Contents
Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................................ ix
Chapter I: Introduction to the Study ............................................................................................................1
Overview ...................................................................................................................................................3
A National Context: The Perception of the Arts in Communities .............................................................4
A Local Context: The Creation of the Arts Planning Council .................................................................7
My Positionality......................................................................................................................................14
Research Question and Study Rationale.................................................................................................15
Research Goals.......................................................................................................................................16
Hermeneutical Phenomenology..............................................................................................................17
Limitations ..............................................................................................................................................18
Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................................20
Chapter 2: Literature Review.....................................................................................................................21
The Definition of Aesthetic......................................................................................................................21
Making Meaning of an Experience .....................................................................................................22
Imagination within the Aesthetic Response.........................................................................................24
Emancipatory Value within the Aesthetic Response ...........................................................................26
Community Creation from the Aesthetic Response.............................................................................29
The Idea of Community Defined .............................................................................................................31
A Definition Imbued with Pragmatism................................................................................................33
A Definition Imbued with Existentialism.............................................................................................34
A Definition of Communities of Practice ............................................................................................36
The Final Value: A Transformed Definition.......................................................................................39
The Arts Experience Leading to Community ..........................................................................................43
Community-Based Arts Education......................................................................................................46
The Classroom Community and the Neighborhood Community.........................................................48
Aesthetic Experience in Public Spaces ...............................................................................................49
Discussion...........................................................................................................................................53
Recommendations for future research ................................................................................................53
Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................................55

iv
Ontology: The Object of Study................................................................................................................56
Epistemology...........................................................................................................................................59
Study Design ...........................................................................................................................................61
Hermeneutical Phenomenology..............................................................................................................61
Turning to the phenomena of aesthetic experiences and their contribution to community creation. .....62
Investigating experiences as we live them. .............................................................................................65
Participants.........................................................................................................................................66
Written Protocol..................................................................................................................................72
Interviewing: Personal Life Story......................................................................................................74
Observations: The Experiential Anecdote ..........................................................................................75
Reflecting on the Essential Themes which Characterize the Phenomenon.............................................76
Describing the Phenomenon through the Art of Writing ........................................................................80
Maintaining a Strong and Oriented Pedagogical Relation to the Phenomenon.....................................81
Ethical Issues ......................................................................................................................................81
Balancing the Research Context by Considering Parts and Whole........................................................83
Chapter 4: The Nature of Arts Events and Programs and Their Contribution to Community Creation ....85
The Arts as Joy........................................................................................................................................86
Receptive Joy ......................................................................................................................................89
Sustained vigor for receptive joy. .......................................................................................................92
Having satisfaction in the liminal experience of receptive joy. ..........................................................93
The Arts as Expression............................................................................................................................95
Expression is an Essential Human Characteristic..............................................................................97
The Arts Can Open Windows for People through Expression............................................................99
The Arts as Connection.........................................................................................................................100
"It is a Human Need to Feel a Sense of Belonging”.........................................................................103
City Township is a Diverse Public....................................................................................................104
"An Aim was to Have Events that Would Unify the Township Public” ............................................106
The Arts as a Public Good....................................................................................................................109
Community of Practice......................................................................................................................116
Mutual Engagement of Participants in Communities of Practice: The Arts Planning Council
Consists of Unique Individuals who equally Contribute to its Action. .............................................117

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Mutual Engagement of Participants in Communities of Practice: The Aim of the Arts Planning
Council is to educate the Public on the Value of the Arts.................................................................119
Accountability to a Joint Enterprise of the Community of Practice: A Goal is a Community Hub that
is Full of Activity...............................................................................................................................121
Accountability to a Joint Enterprise of the Community: The Arts Planning Council is Part of the
Township Despite its Existence as an Independent, Non-profit Entity. ............................................123
Accountability to a Joint Enterprise of the Community: Financial Stability for the Arts Planning
Council Will Enable More Individuals to be Involved in the Arts. ...................................................124
Accountability to a Joint Enterprise of the Community: Connecting with Arts Partners will enable
the Arts Planning Council to enhance its Resources. .......................................................................126
Negotiability of the Shared Repertoire of the Community of Practice: Vocal Feedback Gives the Arts
Planning Council a Gauge................................................................................................................128
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................129
Chapter 5: The Implications of Arts Events and Programming toward Community Creation .................131
The Arts as Joy......................................................................................................................................133
The Arts as Expression..........................................................................................................................136
The Arts as Connection.........................................................................................................................140
The Arts as Public Good.......................................................................................................................144
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................148
Chapter 6: A Final Discussion ..................................................................................................................150
High Points ...........................................................................................................................................151
Listening............................................................................................................................................151
A Separate Entity ..............................................................................................................................151
A Programming Structure.................................................................................................................152
A Self-Sustaining Entity ....................................................................................................................152
Limitations ............................................................................................................................................153
The Board..........................................................................................................................................153
The Space..........................................................................................................................................154
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................155
References.................................................................................................................................................157
Appendix A...............................................................................................................................................165
Appendix B...............................................................................................................................................168
Appendix C...............................................................................................................................................170

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Appendix D...............................................................................................................................................171
Appendix E ...............................................................................................................................................172
Appendix F................................................................................................................................................173
Appendix G...............................................................................................................................................174

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Great Blue Heron, Katherine Coy Smith, soft-ground print...........................................ix
Figure 2: The third annual local art show at City Township located at Independence Barn.......... 1
Figure 3: A gallery of artwork at the local art show....................................................................... 2
Figure 4: Age distribution within City Township........................................................................... 9
Figure 5: Ethnicity distribution within City Township................................................................. 10
Figure 6: Income distribution within City Township. .................................................................. 10
Figure 7: Employment distribution within City Township........................................................... 11
Figure 8: Education distribution with City Township. ................................................................. 11
Figure 9: Description of arts events and actors involved in each event........................................ 13
Figure 10: The Arts Planning Council Board, 2012-2016............................................................ 68
Figure 11: Teaching artists for the CBAE at City Township........................................................ 70
Figure 12: City Township Administration Hierarchy, 2015-16.................................................... 72
Figure 13: Example of significant statements and horizontalization............................................ 79
Figure 14: Arts activities after an outdoor puppet show for children and their families.............. 86
Figure 15: Drawing class at City Township ................................................................................. 97
Figure 16: Groups of township citizens of all ages enjoying the arts events at Arts Fest. ......... 102
Figure 17: Indian dancers performing at the Banquet Hall…………………………..………... 110
Figure 18: Traditional verses Cultural Education....................................................................... 137

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This work is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Lucille K. Coy, who inspired me to enjoy the
aesthetic experiences in life.

ix
Acknowledgments
Figure 1: Great Blue Heron, 2002, Katherine Coy Smith, soft-ground print.
The soft-ground print I created of a blue heron at the beginning of flight visually
represents for me the work of a doctoral student. I offer this image as gratitude to my advisors,
mentors, friends, and family members who have worked in concert to make it possible for me to
accomplish that which I did not think I could do. It has certainly been a privilege to study and
write about education and aesthetics from a curricular and leadership point of view. I am
grateful to have that privilege and look forward to sharing the knowledge I have learned with
others in order to enhance our country’s education.
I would like to offer my utmost gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Kathleen Knight-
Abowitz, for affirming my initial interests into entering the program, for planning my academic
coursework in a timely manner, and for her constant support, time, interest, and guidance during
the dissertation process. Her wisdom and knowledge is deep and very appreciated by me. I
would like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Thomas Poetter, Dr. Lisa Weems, Dr.
Stephanie Danker, and Dr. Michael Evans for their support, patience, information, and guidance.
Each of them holds a body of work that serves as a guide, an inspiration, and a goal for me to
follow. I appreciate all of the individual attention they each gave me in regard to this project.
I am grateful for the support of my colleagues in the Educational Leadership Department.
My cohort members and classmates are so kind and encouraging. Their interest and enthusiasm
sustained me throughout the four years I have been taking classes, teaching, researching, and
writing. I look forward to more collaborative work with them, and I am grateful for the
opportunities we have shared together thus far.
I could not have done this research without the Arts Planning Council board members
and Lisa. Lisa’s first request for advice has led to a much longer work relationship that I cherish

x
and the establishment of a growing arts presence in City Township for which I am grateful. The
board members were both enthusiastic and helpful with the research process. Their eagerness to
talk to me and tell me their stories single-handedly contributed to the creation of this project. I
am very grateful to share their story so that other township publics or cities may benefit from the
knowledge. Thank you to Lisa, Frank, Bob, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mitch, Estelle, John, and Rick.
Finally, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my husband, C. Pat Smith, and
my family. I certainly would not have made it through this project without their support,
understanding, encouragement, and love. My husband’s unequivocal support kept me going. He
did not let me look back on my decision to study educational leadership and helped me to
flourish in my attempt. I am grateful for the many loads of laundry, drives to kids’ activities, and
trips to King’s Island that he did in order for me to read, study, and write. I would like to thank
my children, Zack, Noah, and Sophia, who were never sure what I was doing but were always
there to give me a hug and help me around the house. Thank you for our “power hours!” I
would like to thank my dad, Keith D. Coy, for listening to me rattle on about different ideas and
supporting me throughout my total school and work career. His interest and enthusiasm for what
I was learning encouraged me to keep working at it. My in-laws, Dr. Diane V. and Dr. Arthur W.
Thornton were constant cheerleaders to me. I am very grateful for their encouragement, advice,
and many meals they fixed for our family while I went to their basement at the lake to write. My
brother, Christopher D. Coy, has been a terrific mentor and guide for me while completing this
process and networking for a new job. His belief in my abilities has been pivotal. I would also
like to thank my friends, Kathy Peterson and Tami Baxter, who called regularly to see that I was
doing okay and helped take care of my children when I needed help. Finally, I would like to
acknowledge my mother, Lucille K. Coy, who passed away near the beginning of my
coursework. Her support and love was unflappable, and I could not have made it to this point
without her constant reminder that what I knew was not always “testable.” She believed in
“creative loafing” and the aesthetic side of life and for that I am grateful. As an English teacher,
she made sure my brother and I could write, and I think she would have enjoyed proofreading
this big paper.

1
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study
As I pulled into the parking lot for Independence Barn (pseudonym given), I could see it
glowing with lights and almost shaking with the excitement and energy that seemed to be
spilling from its interior. No parking spaces were available at all in the front. A bit panicked
that I might not find a place to park, I followed another car around the building to an almost
hidden lot behind it. I carefully walked to the front of the building, slowly navigating an
unknown path and several stairs in the dark. As I approached the door, I could hear laughter,
music, and loud conversations. When I walked into the doorway, I could see volunteers passing
out guidebooks, others pouring wine to sample, musicians performing as a quartet, food arranged
for sampling, and beautiful, sophisticated artwork displayed on easels and walls. Two hundred
people were mingling, eating, talking, and looking at artwork. The energy was alive and
contagious. As a visitor, I could not help but smile and sense the excitement myself. Lisa
(pseudonym), the Arts1
Planning Council’s (pseudonym) chairperson, was making
announcements in between the music changes.
Figure 2: The third annual local art show at City Township located at Independence Barn.
Elizabeth (pseudonym), a community board member of the Arts Planning Council,
approached me with a radiating smile. Together, she and I admired the photography displayed
on the wall next to where we were standing. I met her granddaughter and her son, conversed,
1
In this study, the term, arts, refers to the arts in a general sense, meaning music, dance, drama, creative writing,
and visual art. Art in a singular form refers to visual art.

2
and moved on to see the other spaces. I traversed through the silent auction to get a feel for the
diversity of the artwork, and I observed more small groups of people talking and laughing among
each other. The artwork donated for the silent auction seemed of high quality with selections
such as hand blown glass created at the local glass workshop, fiber work, photography, sculpture,
drawings, and paintings. The revenue from the sale of these items would go back into the Arts
Planning Council’s budget for future events.
Figure 1: A gallery of artwork at the local art show.
The barn had a wonderful, open feel that only a barn can give, but it also allowed for
small spaces of displays that the council had used to better organize the artwork. I started up the
main staircase that snaked around the quartet and the wine samplers and came to rest at the main
display rooms upstairs. I could not help but snap some photographs of what I saw along the way.
I saw Estelle (pseudonym) and congratulated her on her recent election win. She is one of three
Township Trustees for City Township (pseudonym) and the strongest supporter for the arts on
the Trustee Board. She was just up for reelection and told me that she was trying to “recover”
from the hard campaign.
I roamed into the main gallery space that had glass vessels punctuating the middle of the
room with intense colors and framed artwork that bordered the outside of the room by hanging
on portable grids. Several artists stood by to talk to the visitors about their artwork. I talked to a
few artists, heard their stories, and took notes on others who could possibly teach for the
community based art education program the Arts Planning Council was trying to develop. I took
thorough notes about all of the artists and their mediums. The variety of media was exciting to
see and impressive. Works created in pastel, oil, watercolor, acrylic, wood, glass, mixed media,
textile weaving, fiber/sewn designs, relief sculptures, gourd art, scratch art, and photography

3
displayed behind leaded glass were all represented. The only medium missing was ceramic
work.
I walked carefully down the stairs and I searched for Lisa. I found her talking to several
people. As I said goodbye, I complimented her on how impressive this third, local art show was.
The quality of artwork had become elevated. The addition of the wine tastings, the food, the
presence of the artists, and the music made it a very special and celebratory event (Reflective
notes from field journal, 11/6/2015).
Overview
Art encourages us to experience our lives more vividly by urging us to reexamine
our thoughts and renew our feelings. The essence of art is the spark of insight and
the thrill of discovery—first experienced by the viewer… The best art cuts
through our tendency to prejudge our experience. Great art sharpens our
perceptions by re-creating human experience in fresh forms, bringing a new sense
of the significance and connectedness of life. (Frank, 2009, p. 21)
Aesthetic encounters are experiences from which individuals derive meanings that raise
their intellect and moral sense (Frank, 2009). What is normally obscured by the everyday
qualities of habits and “busyness” can suddenly be seen through a new awakening. With clearer
vision, obstacles and challenges are viewed more acutely, and the imagination creates ideals of
what could be or create empathy to see the world through another’s eyes (Greene, 1988).
Dialogue and critical thinking result, and when done in a communal setting, such as in a local art
show, they can catalyze the formation of a community. An “in between” arises when individuals
share ideas and feelings with others through their aesthetic objects or their aesthetic reactions.
The “in between” is “marked by an emerging solidarity” and sharing of beliefs (Hannah Arendt
as cited in Greene, 1995, p. 35). This “in between” creates a doorway, or a “limen,” into
moments of dissolved social structure to create a phenomenon called communitas defined as the
activity of community or the joy of being or working with others (E. Turner, 2012; V. Turner,
1969).
This type of community is not produced through “rational formulation, edict, or social
contract” (Greene, 1995). Instead, it is achieved through meanings that are experienced together
through reified aesthetic objects and mutual engagement within conjoint activity and a joint

4
enterprise (Greene, 1995; Wenger, 2004). This type of community can be created both within
and by formal and informal aesthetic experiences (E. Turner, 2012). Pragmatically, community
members discover what they recognize together, such as the artwork, the play, the literature, or
the music. Participants appreciate what they have in common that contributes to the pursuit of
shared goods and ways of being together (Dewey, 1927; Greene, 1995, p. 39; Wenger, 2004). By
offering aesthetic experiences in the arts in classrooms (formal arts education) and other public
venues (informal arts education), encounters with artworks can engage as many people as
possible in open ended dialogues and can provide the opportunity for communal decisions
(Greene, 2001). Individuals begin to recognize each other in new ways and an institution of a
relational community could be created in public venues, through shared aesthetic responses to art
objects, events, and programs presented in both the educational and public setting. Community-
Based Art Education is the framework used to describe arts education taking place in public
spaces beyond the classroom walls. Informal settings allow space for freer dialogue, debate, and
democratic thinking. Dewey (1927) explained that democracy is the idea of community life
itself, and wherever there is conjoint activity whose consequences are appreciated as good by all
who partake and sustain it, there is a community (p. 149).
A National Context: The Perception of the Arts in Communities
In theory, community creation from aesthetic experiences sounds ideal and attainable.
The research shows the public does not necessarily view the arts as something essential to
community life (Americans for the Arts, 2011; Fine Arts Fund, 2010; Malmuth, 2011; NEA,
2012; Strom, 2002). Lambert Zuidervaart (2011) analyzed the American battle around
government funding of the arts in order to better understand what the opponents and advocates
assume with respect to the arts, the state, and a democratic society. In his development of a new
sociocultural theory about the arts and government funding, Zuidervaart (2011) enunciated
“three conceptual polarities” that “pervade American debates” (p. 5). First, a conflict exists
between advocating for government support or for a free market approach to arts funding. The
second reveals another conflict “between protecting the freedom of artistic expression and
maintaining the authority of traditional value” (Zuidervaart, 2011, pp. 5-6). The third is a
dilemma whether to allow images of contemporary art to challenge the status quo or to convey
that contemporary art is a “menace” to society (Zuidervaart, 2011, p. 6). These points divide the

5
public into “two main camps waging cultural warfare” (Zuidervaart, 2011, p. 6). One side
advocates for “government support, freedom of expression, and provocative challenges” (p. 6).
The other side advocates for a free market, traditional values, and holds a disdain for cultural
decadence (Zuidervaart, 2011, p. 6).
Controversies about government funding for the arts raise many specific questions and
point to numerous fields of study. Zuidervaart’s (2011) goal in his theoretical analysis of these
debates was “to uncover and challenge widely shared philosophical assumptions and to propose
an alternative conception of art in the public” (Zuidervaart, 2011, p. 5). He claimed democracy,
articulated in the concepts of participation, recognition, and freedom, is what is ultimately
contested in the debates about government arts funding. He noted the National Endowment for
the Arts brochure that indicated “a high degree of correlation between participation in the arts
and ‘civic engagement’” as an example (p. 312). In it, Dana Gioia, chairperson of the NEA,
stated: “Healthy communities depend on active citizens. The arts play an irreplaceable role in
producing both those citizens and communities” (as cited in Zuidervaart, 2011, p. 312). In the
end, Zuidervaart (2011) argued for a “robust public sphere and a thriving social economy, as
well as arts organizations that help form and foster them” (p. 12).
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is aware of a lack of broad studies
investigating the effects and the perceptions of the arts within communities and the public
sphere. The organization embarked on a mixed method research project with the Monitor Group.
The study included “leading thinkers in a variety of fields” to establish a “testable hypothesis for
understanding how art works in American life” (NEA, 2012, p. 5). The result is a system map
reflecting a common view of the relationship between art and community outcomes. Past
research has been reactive and data driven. The NEA desires research to be theory-driven and
proactive. A theory of change would help to better understand the arts as a dynamic and
complex system, rich in intellectual history of argument and counter-argument. A system map
shows recurrent themes and concepts such as art itself, quality of life outcomes, and broader
societal impacts. On a more complex level, it indicates system multipliers such as markets and
subsidies, politics, technology, demographics and cultural traditions, and space and time (NEA,
2012, p. 14).
The City of Cincinnati’s non-profit, public arts fund entitled ArtsWave (formerly named
the Fine Arts Fund) conducted a study with Topos Partners in 2008. Their study falls into one of

6
the themes that the NEA’s (2012) system map indicates. Topos Partners and ArtsWave
researched how to create “inclusive community dialogue that would lead to a broadly shared
public responsibility for arts and culture in the region” (Fine Arts Fund, 2010, p. 1). Following
one year of social scientific research methodologies of one-on-one interviews, archival and
document analysis, focus groups, and “talk back” testing, the group concluded that arts advocates
need a “deeper understanding of the best way to communicate with the public in order to achieve
a shared sense of responsibility” (p. 1) for the arts. Previous to the report, the arts were
considered nice but not necessary, a private good and not a public good. They are conceived as
an individual matter and a product to be purchased in which individuals passively receive the arts
and are not active with them. Consequently, the arts are situated as a low priority in regard to
how people value them (Fine Arts Fund, 2010).
Topos Partners realized the discourse needed to change to position the arts as a public
good or a collective responsibility. Through the talk back testing, one message stood out as an
effective way to change the current discourse: “A thriving arts sector creates ripple effects of
benefit throughout our community” (Fine Arts Fund, 2010, p. 3). Those benefits are viewed in
two very distinct philosophical perspectives. First, the ripple effect results in a vibrant thriving
economy with neighborhoods that are more lively, communities revitalized, and tourists and
residents attracted to the area. A body of literature exists quantifying the economic benefit of the
non-profit arts sector. It speaks to the trend of downtown arts development and explains the
establishment of cultural policy to maintain social equity and avoid gentrification (Americans for
the Arts, 2011; Kelaher, et al., 2014; Malmuth, 2011; Nicodemus, 2013; Strom, 2002).
The second ripple effect results in more connected populations where diverse groups
share common experiences, hear new perspectives, and understand each other better (Fine Arts
Fund, 2010, p. 4). A body of literature also exists to realize this more scholarly and community
driven aspect of the arts (Asher, 2009; Biagi, 2001; Buda, Fedorenko, & Sheridan, 2012; Chung
& Ortiz, 2011; Cummings, 2012; Ekhoff, 2011; Herrman, 2005; Hutzel, 2007; Krensky, 2001;
Law, 2012; Medina, 2009; Song & Gammel, 2011; Strom, 2002; Washington, 2011). Missing
from this literature are studies of local townships utilizing the arts as a public good. There is
little knowledge and only a few events serving as exemplars for arts-based groups creating
programming to connect individual citizens together where they share common experiences, hear
new perspectives, and understand each other better.

7
A Local Context: The Creation of the Arts Planning Council
City Township made a township-level decision to utilize the arts to create a stronger
social connection among its public. The results are manifest in many arts events and programs
scheduled by a township non-profit group entitled the Arts Planning Council. The group is in the
process of creating a 10-year township impact strategy. Lisa, chairperson of the Arts Planning
Council, explained: “We … will soon be working with other non-profits to build a stronger arts
presence in the community that will bring community vibrancy and interest to this area”
(Personal communication, August, 2014).
The Arts Planning Council exists today as an independent, non-profit group because of
tax cuts from the state government and a small, but very vocal, anti-tax group who politically
attacked the township by targeting the Arts Council as it was forming. Several years ago, the
state governor desired to balance the state budget. The state money that was issued to local
governments through the Local Government Fund was cut by 50%. The estate tax that
contributed to local monies was eliminated. When those cuts were combined with the state law
that prohibits local townships from collecting income taxes from local businesses, City
Township found itself $2 million short of its original budget. The result was that services such
as EMT, fire, and police would stay, but other services and goods, such as the senior center, the
Banquet Hall, the parks, and the township events could be eliminated. The township
administrators and trustees knew that elimination of such public goods would be harmful to the
quality of life of the township.
Through innovative ways, the township realized avenues to allow them to collect funds
legally and democratically through the public’s voting approval. A township is not allowed to
collect income taxes on local businesses, but if the township defines a business zone and works
in conjunction with a neighboring city, together the township and the city may collect an
“earnings” tax from those business employees. This zone is called a Joint Economic
Development Zone (JEDZ) and must be approved by a vote from township residents. The
money collected from the JEDZ must go toward economic development, such as road repair and
running the township. The police and fire services are funded from separate tax levies and
would never use the money from a JEDZ. In the creation of City Township’s JEDZ, the trustees

8
and administrators built in incentives in the form of grants for local residents who would choose
to live and work in City Township (field journal notes).
The creation of the JEDZ would guarantee township services but would not guarantee
arts events and programming. Knowing this, the administration, the trustees, and Lisa created
the Arts Planning Council as a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. Despite the knowledge of the
incentives for local residents who are business owners and the possibility of services and goods
provided by the township to exist, a local business owner and resident spoke out against the
JEDZ formation. He made a philosophical argument against township residents voting to allow
businesses and their employees to be taxed when most businesses and employees were not voting
members of the township. In other words, it was an argument against taxation without
representation. In his efforts to speak out against this tax on the upcoming ballot, his group
attacked the Arts Planning Council as they were forming, by purchasing the rights to the Arts
Planning Council’s name. The anti-tax group transformed the former arts council’s name into an
acronym with an anti-tax message that was derogatory toward the township. The township
public became divided over this issue and the arts became an easy target. The issue, however,
caused the Arts Planning Council to “regroup” with a new name, an approval to become a non-
profit, a new website, and a plethora of supporters. In fact, the Arts Planning Council claims the
attack on them from the anti-tax group made the Arts Planning Council even stronger than before
the attack. The residents of City Township did get to vote on the development of the JEDZ and
passed it with a 52.29 % vote of approval from township residents (field journal notes).
The existence of the Arts Planning Council and the attack on the township over the JEDZ
creation harkens back to Zuidervaart’s (2011) point of the cultural warfare that permeates
American publics. Zuidervaart (2011) claimed “democracy is the root of the debate” (p. 12), and
City Township stands as a local example of this national context. The township trustees and
administrators are attempting to achieve what Zuidervaart (2011) called “a robust public sphere”
as well as an arts organization, the Arts Planning Council, to “help form and foster that public”
(p. 12).
The Arts Planning Council utilizes the arts as a public good to promote aesthetic
experiences in the township. These aesthetic experiences are found in the arts events and
programming the Arts Planning Council provides. The experiences serve to connect members
together. Art expression directly impacts the individual and, in turn, affects individuals’

9
relationships within a group of people. The experience of creation, performance, or study of the
arts draws people together around arts events creating a commonality among viewers and artists.
The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study is to understand how the Arts
Planning Council makes meaning of the aesthetic experiences created through its art events and
programming that lead toward community creation.
City Township is located in the northern hills of a fairly large, Midwest city. As the most
centrally located township of 12 townships in the county, it has a total population of 36, 319 and
covers 16.6 square miles. The township has borders on the more urban, downtown area to its
south and east, and its middle class, predominately African American (14, 479) and white
(20,219) suburban populations at its center, west and north. The labor force in City Township is
a total of 19,597 people with 18,205 employed and 1,377 (7%) unemployed. Of the 15,091 total
dwellings located in the township, 14,047 of those are occupied. The income distribution in the
township represents a higher percentage of working and lower middle class households with
40% making $20,000-$60,000 a year and 29.4% making $60,000-$100,000. Nineteen point
seven percent of the public makes $100,000 or more a year. The township touches seven school
districts, but only one district is located completely in the township (2010 Census Data on
township website2
).
Age Total
Under 18 9,231
18 and over 27,088
20-24 1,569
25-34 3,951
35-49 6,940
50-64 7,594
65 and over 5,781
Figure 2: Age distribution within City Township.
2
Citation withheld for reasons of confidentiality.

10
Race Total
White 20,219
African American 14,479
American Indian 47
Asian 387
Pacific Islander 23
Other 308
Identified by two or more 856
Hispanic or Latino 658
Hispanic or Latino 658
Figure 3: Ethnicity distribution within City Township.
Amount Total Percent
Less than $10,000 654 4.9
$10,000 - 20,000 1,031 7.7
$20,000 - 30,000 1,143 8.5
$30,000 - 40,000 1,334 9.9
$40,000 - 50,000 1,348 10.0
$50,000 - 60,000 1,339 10.0
$60,000 - 75,000 1,798 13.4
$75,000 - 100,000 2,147 16.0
$100,000 or more 2,642 19.7
Figure 4: Income distribution within City Township.

11
Status Total Percent
Labor Force 19,597 N/A
Employed 18,205 92.9
Unemployed 1,377 7.0
In Armed Forces 15 N/A
Not in Labor Force 10,088 N/A
Figure 5: Employment distribution within City Township.
Level Total Percent
Populations age 25 and
older
25,671 N/A
Below grade 9 626 2.4
Grades 9-12 1,974 7.7
High school 7,804 30.4
Some college 4,959 19.3
Associate's degree 2,195 8.6
Bachelor's degree 5,212 20.3
Graduate degree 2,901 11.3
Figure 6: Education distribution with City Township.
City Township owns community property on which is situated the administration
building. This building houses the administration offices, the fire department, and a public
presentation room where trustee meetings are held. The police department is less than one half
mile down the street. A Senior and Community Arts Center building and a Banquet Hall are also

12
located on the property. Both of these buildings are dedicated completely to the citizens of the
community. The Senior and Community Arts Center, in particular, houses a large woodshop, an
art classroom, a commercial kitchen, a gallery, and three open “halls” for the community to use.
Many education classes take place in the Senior and Community Center. The Banquet Hall is a
1930s open dance hall that is used for large group and event rentals throughout most days. Many
arts events take place in the Banquet Hall, but its use is primarily for generating revenue used to
maintain the Senior and Community Arts Center.
The population of City Township is mostly a working to middle class, racially mixed
population, which makes it an unusual case for the arts to be chosen as catalyst to enrich
community life and to view arts as a public good. In the United States, the arts seem to be
associated with college educated, wealthier communities because of the cultural capital and the
costs associated with providing arts programming and events. The majority of City Township
population, 49.7%, has a high school degree and some college experience, while only 20% hold
a completed college degree. The service industry functions as the main economic support of the
smaller communities that make up City Township. This demographic situation affects the
volunteers for the various events in the township. Many families have parents who work outside
of the home; therefore, attaining volunteers for various events is a constant tension for the Arts
Planning Council. What choices the Arts Planning Council makes for arts events and
programming and how the community values these events and programs may be affected by this
socioeconomic situation.
The initial impetus of the Arts Planning Council was to develop a strong representation
and support for local adult artists of the community. Community artists were asked and
rewarded for showing their artwork, musical performances, or acting. From this base of artists,
musicians, and performers, the Arts Planning Council continues to utilize them as teachers.
Many adult and youth classes are taught with a local resident as the instructor. The instructors
create the curriculum for the class as well as teach a programmed series of classes to other
township members. These local educators and learners are important elements in creating the
arts experiences and the meaning of community within City Township.
The format and number of classes initially created by the Arts Planning Council as part of
the township’s event series and community based art education (CBAE) program has been
inconsistent and random. A regular event schedule that occurs in quarterly sessions was created.

13
Art classes were scheduled on a six week rotation. Events such as a summer concert series, fall
dinner theaters, and yearly family entertainment events have been streamlined to meet the
various demographics of the township. Foundational art classes create the current format of the
CBAE with drawing, painting (acrylic and watercolor), and a variety of workshops programmed
for the adult township members (ages 15-adult). Arts educator forums were also planned in an
effort to better connect the township to the schools through the arts (See figure 8).
Figure 9: Description of arts events and actors involved in each event. Created in 11/2014 and still used in 5/2016.
Through participation with the board and volunteering before, after, and during events, I
have met the various board members, township members, and township trustees attending and
volunteering at arts events and classes. Casual conversations and interviews have led to insights
into their understanding of aesthetic experiences, the phenomenon of communitas, and how the
arts experiences have contributed to that understanding. The township members are the focus of
the “acts” that are done by the Arts Planning Council to create an institution of community in
City Township. It is through the Arts Planning Committee board members’ understandings that I
hope to share how aesthetic experiences, from arts events and programming, can create relational
communities. The importance of this work is not just for other organizations to use as a reference
Dinner Theater Series
Concert Series
Family Entertainment
Series
Education Series
• Fall
• Performing Artists
• Event volunteers
• Summer
• Concert Committee
• Musicians
• Year round
• Actors
• Art volunteers
• Year round sessions
• Learners
• Teaching artists
• Local Art Show
• Summer camps for kids

14
of what can be done, but also for educators and curricularists to better understand the function of
the aesthetic within a curriculum and how it contributes to the establishment of community
within the classroom or school setting.
My Positionality
As a visual art educator, I had the opportunity to teach in the public schools, in the
university setting, and to volunteer in multiple age settings. In each one of those scenarios, I was
always amazed at how the class would have a certain and unique feeling after several artistic
experiences together. We could not achieve the same sense with simply having a lecture. I soon
realized a connection existed between the experience of the art production or the art
interpretation and the unique feeling occurring within the class. Projects, such as the creation of
a family sculpture out of shapes, would engender self-reflection, analysis of family dynamics,
and expression of the new symbols representing family. Artists’ statements accompanied the
sculptures to explain the personalities of each family member. The way the parts of the family
interacted influenced the construction of the sculpture itself. Students objectified their feelings
in order to share their experience with others in the class. The meanings created through those
contributions connected the participants together in a new way that led the individuals into
solidarity of understanding, better known as relational community.
With this understanding of what the aesthetic experience through the arts can do for a
group of people, I found it hard to understand why a hierarchy of subject matter existed in our
education curricula. It is a hierarchy that justifies the elimination of arts in schools when budgets
become tight, as they did after the economic downturn of 2008. In 2009, one mid-Ohio school
district’s economic strife led to a restructuring that eliminated 44 art, music, physical education,
and media specialist positions. According to a CBS report on September 16, 2011, 200,000
visual arts, music, and physical education positions were eliminated nationwide over the course
of two years (Buda, Fedorenko, & Sheridan, 2012, p. 11). City Township felt the same trend
when its schools also laid off arts teachers. Consequently, when I learned in 2012 that the
township trustees and administrators of City Township wanted to utilize the arts to connect
township members and support the school districts, I was eager to watch the process unfold.
I was deeply interested in the formation of a community based arts education program in
City Township and how it contributes to the meaning and creation of community. Interesting,

15
too, is the understanding of how human connection can lend a feeling of communitas among its
township members. I realized, when I heard about City Township’s plan to create an Arts
Planning Council, the mere idea to utilize the arts to connect township members indicates a
human desire for connection. A situation like this emphasizes the need for the arts to begin in
the public school setting and continue in public spaces for adults who hold aesthetic experiences
as important.
When I taught as a middle school visual art teacher, the surrounding township in which I
taught supported my efforts to expand my visual art program aesthetically through grants, artists-
in-residence programs, and local news coverage of my program’s efforts. A community-based
arts program also influenced me and my program through teacher workshops and arts
programming for my students. These connections and developments were keys to my success as
an art teacher. I was given a network of other teachers from other subjects who supported my
efforts to create an aesthetically rich curriculum for my students. I was given direct access to
visual artists, musicians, actors, dancers, and creative writers that allowed me to live the
curricular possibilities of aesthetic experiences within group settings before teaching them to my
classes. To see the possibilities of all that a community-based arts program can do for public
school teachers and for township members is exciting, but it also begs the question, “How do
members of an Arts Planning Committee make meaning of aesthetic experiences of the arts
events and programs they create?”
Research Question and Study Rationale
The overall question answered by this study utilizing phenomenology of existential
experience as its framework is, “How does the Arts Planning Council make meaning of the
aesthetic experiences created through arts events and programming?” The theoretical
frameworks utilized for this study are the social constructs of phenomenology and the
existential3
nature of the aesthetic experience (Bedford, 1972; Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Buber,
1958; Dewey, 1934/2005; Greene, 1978, 1988, 1995; Schutz, 1967; Schutz & Luckmann, 1989;
Van Manen, 1990). Both of these theories frame a pragmatic creation of community (Dewey,
1927; Greene, 2001). The aesthetic experience within a group serves as a “liminal” space that
3
The goal of existentialism is to make every human aware of what he or she is and to grant each human the full
responsibility of his or her existence and his or her acts in which each is involved (Bedford, 1972, p. 8).

16
breaks down social structure and results in a feeling of communitas (Greene, 2001; E. Turner,
2012; V. Turner, 1969). Based on my analysis of relevant studies utilizing arts experiences to
create meaning of community within classrooms, neighborhoods, and institutions, and through
hermeneutical phenomenological analysis of the board members’ and township trustees formal
and informal interviews, I attempt to understand how the Arts Planning Council views those
theoretical concepts. The township hopes to create connections among township members
through the arts. The results should stimulate the local economy, create a city-center, and
support the seven school districts within the township. I find the study of City Township
valuable to other communities who desire to position the arts as central to their public life but
may also hold atypical demographics for such decisions. City Township is a contemporary
context and a real-life, bounded system creating more than just a case study. It creates a context
in which I and the Arts Planning Council can reflectively understand the meaning of community
formation from aesthetic experiences.
Research Goals
My goal through this study was to utilize hermeneutical phenomenology to understand
how the Arts Planning Council makes meaning of the aesthetic experiences created through their
arts events and programming that lead toward community creation. Aesthetic experiences give
way to existential connections among and between individuals, creating a deeply active feeling
of communitas. I am interested in understanding how this response is passed on to others
through the typifications and actions of the Arts Planning Council board, the audience members,
the actors, the artists, the art teachers, the musicians, the stage crews, and the many volunteers.
The subjective reality created by these actors and their actions and reactions to the phenomena of
art is maintained through their rituals of performance, advertisement, fundraising, education, and
conversation of shared responses. In these ways, the phenomena of meaning making of a
community through the aesthetic experience of the arts events and programming creates actions,

17
both typified4
and habitualized5
, and rituals, both rational and nonrational,6
that supersede
fragmented geography and socio-economic income. An understanding of connection within City
Township is created. It is an understanding of the arts as joyful, expressive, connecting, and a
social-public good.
Hermeneutical Phenomenology
The study at City Township began as a pilot study with an interpretive case study design.
It worked as a case study because City Township was and still is a bounded, real-life case in
which I investigated the meaning making of Arts Planning Council members. I understood how
they viewed the aesthetic experiences they created from the arts events and programming. A
case study is conducted to develop an in-depth understanding of a single case in order to explore
an issue or problem using the case as a specific illustration (Creswell, 2013; Glesne, 2011; Stake,
1995; Yin, 2003). As an intrinsic pilot case study, this case arose from a distinctive need to
understand complex social phenomena of aesthetic experience and its ability to create
community. The pilot case study allowed me, as the investigator, to retain the holistic
characteristics of real-life arts events and arts classes (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2003).
However, as I spent time as a participant observer in City Township while conducting the
pilot case study, in particular with the Arts Planning Council, the approach of interpreting the
understanding the Arts Planning Council members make of the aesthetic experiences and their
contribution to community formation required a methodology that would “raise questions, gather
data, describe phenomenon, and construct textual interpretations” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 1).
Thus, the approach of this study is phenomenological and hermeneutic. It is language-oriented
because the aesthetic experience of community formation requires a phenomenological
sensitivity to the lived experience of the Arts Planning Council members and their work in
particular. The meaning of community formation from aesthetic experience requires “a
hermeneutic ability to make interpretive sense of the phenomenon of the lifeworld” to see the
4
Typification is a term created by Alfred Schutz (1967) to describe typical or recurrent elements from the stream of
experiences of individuals. Humans identify elements which are similar perhaps because they share the same color,
shape, texture, or quality of movement. Berger & Luckman (1966) refer to all of the English attributes of their
friend from England as a typification.
5
Habitualized actions are those that are repeated on a regular basis but without any consciousness behind the action.
6
Rational rituals are the intended, rehearsed rituals done by a group to negotiate change together. Nonrational
rituals are the unintended rituals that are done daily but not often noticed within a group setting.

18
aesthetic significance of situations and relations within the community formation of City
Township (Van Manen, 1990, p. 2).
The foundation of this approach is “textual reflection on the lived experiences and
practical actions of everyday life with the intent to increase one’s thoughtfulness and practical
resources of tact” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 4). Phenomenology describes how the Arts Planning
Council orients to the lived aesthetic experiences and the resulting community formation.
Hermeneutics describes how the Arts Planning Council and I interpret the “texts” of life.
“Semiotics is used to develop a practical linguistic approach to the method of phenomenology
and hermeneutics” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 4) so that research and writing in this study are
inseparable activities.
Limitations
Phenomenological research is not analytic science. It does not describe “actual states of
affairs” or make “scientific generalizations” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 22). Phenomenology is
empirical in that it deals with experience but not “inductively empirically derived” (Van Manen,
1990, p. 22). Van Manen (1990) stated it goes beyond an “interest in ‘mere’ particularities” (p.
22). Case studies and ethnographies focus on a particular situation, group, culture, or
institutional location to study what goes on there, how individuals of the group perceive events,
and how they might differ from other such groups or situations (Van Manen, 1990, p. 22). While
there may be a phenomenological quality to such studies since the participants are asked about
their experiences, the aim of the case study or ethnography is to accurately describe “an existing
state of affairs or a certain present or past culture which could drastically change from place to
place or over time” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 22).
A pilot case study of City Township’s Arts Planning Council could fill a gap in the
literature for townships who wish to establish their own Arts Councils and who may consider the
arts as a public good. Missing from the literature are descriptions and details of how an Arts
Council plans events and programming utilizing the aesthetic experience to connect citizens. As
a pilot case study, it was particular to City Township and carried the limitation that it may not be
like other cases (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2003). As a phenomenological study, the meanings the Arts
Planning Council make of the aesthetic experiences created through arts events and

19
programming that lead toward community formation can be understood by others as meaning
derived from the lived experiences of the Arts Planning Council.
City Township is a large and encompassing township, which covers many smaller
neighborhoods, seven school districts, and contains islands of township entities encased by other
townships. It is not a small, homogenous township that includes one school district or a few
neighborhoods only. It is not homogenous in the level of education or income that members
attain either. It is a suburb, but it is a first ring suburb that borders and, in some cases, even
contains the city proper. Most Arts Councils function within a city or a suburb but not within
both. As Stake (1995) claimed, this case cannot be generalized, but what is within the case can
be. On the other hand, as a phenomenological study, the analysis of the meanings of the actions
of the Arts Planning Council and their understanding of how the aesthetic experience moves
township members toward individual connections and communitas can be generalized. Petite
generalizations as such are helpful, but the grand generalization of one case to another will be
limited. Yin (2003) stated that case study generalizations can only be toward theoretical
propositions and not toward populations or universes. The groundwork of a case is the
particularization of it.
I have taken the pilot case study at City Township and have “learned it well” through
observations and interviews with the Arts Planning Council, township members, and township
trustees (Stake, 1995). As I emphasized, it is more important to understand the function of the
aesthetic experience of the arts events and programming at City Township in detail rather than
how this case generalizes to other townships. It is a misnomer to speak of the phenomenology of
City Township or the Arts Planning Council as a particular case. Phenomenology cannot prove
one event over another and does not make “law-like statements, or the establishment of
functional relationships” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 22). The tendency, however, to generalize with
phenomenology runs the risk of focusing on the larger picture rather than the uniqueness of the
Arts Planning Counci, which could be a limitation (Van Manen, 1990, p. 22).
Van Manen (1990) differentiated phenomenology as neither “mere particularity nor sheer
universality” (p. 23). Instead, it consists in mediating between what is unique and what is
essential to make that difference. Phenomenology does not problem solve by “asking
questions,” seeking solutions of “correct knowledge,” discovering “effective procedures and
winning strategies, calculative techniques, and methods” which derive results (Van Manen,

20
1990, p. 23). Instead, phenomenological questions are meaning questions that beg the
significance and meaning structures of certain phenomenon. “Meaning questions cannot be
solved and done away with” (Marcel, 1949, as cited by Van Manen, 1990, p. 23). They can be
better understood when realizing that thought and tact can be employed in certain situations but
one can never shut off understandings. Meaning questions remain the topic of conversations of
lived life and “appropriated” by those who desire such insight (Van Manen, 1990, pp. 23-24).
Conclusion
This hermeneutical phenomenological study of the aesthetic experience and its
contribution toward community formation could reflect a connection of township members
through the existential, aesthetic experiences the Arts Planning Council creates with arts events
and programming. Individuals might discover what they recognize together, and might attain
mutuality and active reciprocity within the community based programming (Dewey, 1927;
Green, 1995; Wenger, 2004). Hopefully, as many people as possible engage in open-ended
dialogues about arts, events, and programs. The arts might provide the opportunity for communal
decisions resulting in a relational community in public spaces. Phenomenology differs in
methodology from content analysis or case study whose methodologies specify beforehand what
they want to know from the text. Phenomenology is discovery oriented because there are no
predetermined objectives to compare or discover. Instead, it seeks to find out what certain
phenomena mean after they have occurred and how the phenomena is experienced by others
through their reflections of that lived experience (Van Manen, 1990, 37). Therefore, this
research is a journey of finding meaning in aesthetic experiences and how community is created
from those aesthetic experiences. Most particularly, it might be a unique experience to document
the communitas created from the liminal experiences of arts events. E. Turner (2012) maintained
one must keep in mind “researchers of communitas can only understand communitas when they
are right inside of it” (p. 8). My objective is to be there.

21
Chapter 2: Literature Review
The goal of this study is to understand how the members of Arts Planning Committee make
meaning of the aesthetic experiences created through arts events and programming that lead toward
community creation. In this chapter, the conceptual literature of aesthetic experience, existential
connection, pragmatic community theory, communities of practice, and communitas creates a
foundation for understanding the empirical literature of community formation through the arts.
The conceptual and empirical literature contributes to the understanding of the aesthetic
experiences and their contribution toward community formation in City Township. The literature
reviewed in this chapter situates this study as an empirical example of the phenomenon of the
existential aesthetic experience and its ability to connect humans to humans (Buber, 1958, 1975;
Greene, 1995; E. Turner, 2012; V. Turner, 1972).
The Definition of Aesthetic
“Aesthetic” as a noun is used to question and ponder those qualities in a work of art that
make it worthy of defining what art is. Arguments center on relationships of art and beauty, art
and knowledge, and art and nature. The established theories of art production called aesthetic
stances—mimesis, expressionism, and formalism—also attempt to define the quality of art
objects within those frameworks (Day & Hurwitz, 2001; Weitz, 1956). The primary task of
aesthetics, according to Weitz (1965), is to elucidate the concept of art, specifically, the
conditions under which individuals employ the concept of art correctly (Weitz, 1956, p. 5). It is,
therefore, also important to look at aesthetic as an adjective.
As an adjective, “aesthetic” refers to the quality of something such as an aesthetic
response or as aesthetic inquiry, which centers on the type of questioning that delves below the
surface of long-held assumptions. The focus of aesthetic inquiry is a “process of probing for
answers to everyday questions” that relate to “urgent and controversial issues” (Day & Hurwitz,
2001, p. 273). In this way, aesthetics is a term used to single out “a particular field in philosophy
concerned with perception, sensation, and imagination and how those qualities relate to knowing,
understanding, and feeling about the world” (Greene, 2001, p. 5).

22
A binary is created when discussing the focus of aesthetics in education. The divide falls
between those who want to emphasize that aesthetics, especially in education, has to do with the
encounters viewers have with artistic objects as the catalyst of a personal experience and analysis
(existential) and those who believe that the meaning one receives from an experience contributes
to the creation of the artistic object (phenomenological). Eisner (1998) referred to this binary as
two kinds of aesthetic knowledge. One is the “knowledge of the world toward which the
qualities of an artistic form point” (Eisner, 1998, p. 37). When viewing artwork, aesthetics
focuses on the ways of apprehending or perceiving an artistic object. The existential hope is that
people will find themselves “reading the artistic objects” in such a way that “some windows
open in their own experience and in their own imaginations” (Greene in Uhrmacher & Matthews,
2005, p. 222). It is an “existential belief that individuals are not yet complete;” therefore this
view allows for a freedom to become possible when “options for life and being” (Bedford, 1972,
p. 8) are opened through awareness of other’s experiences objectified into works of art.
The second type of aesthetic knowledge is knowledge of the qualities of form in objects
derived from a phenomenological event. We become increasingly able to “know qualities called
aesthetic by developing abilities to experience the subtleties of form, such as knowing aspects of
music, literature, art, and science” (Eisner, 1998, p. 37). Dance educator Susan Stinson (2002)
reminds us to look beyond superficial similarities of aesthetic forms to discern the art object as a
whole, as compared to the components. For example, we can discern that which “distinguishes
dance from movement” (Stinson, 2002, p. 154). Stinson (2002) identified “experience and
engagement” (p. 154), combined with a sense of form, as central to meaning of the artistic
object. The aesthetic object, whether found in nature and the environment or created by the
artist, “reveals the force of feeling through itself” (Broudy, 1977, p. 36).
Both types of aesthetic experience, whether from the art object or from the experience
contributing to the craft of the object, catalyze the individual to “reflect on a part of his or her life
not initially seen” (Greene in Uhrmacher & Matthews, 2005, p. 220). These aesthetic
experiences give meaning to everyday occurrences.
Making Meaning of an Experience
Etienne Wenger (2004) suggested that a focus on meaningfulness helps us better
experience our world and our engagement with it as meaningful. We must be alive in a world in

23
which we can act and interact, in essence participate. For example, Wenger (2004) explained
that the creation of a painting is a mechanical production utilizing canvas, wood, saws, brushes,
pigments, oils, and techniques. “But for the painter and for the viewer, the painting is an
experience of meaning” (Wenger, 2004, pp. 51-52) exchanged between them through the object
of the painting.
Experience.
Dewey (1934/2005) explained that “every experience begins with an impulsion” which is
“a movement outward and forward” (Dewey, 1934/2005, p. 60) of the whole person. Proceeding
from need, the impulsion begins the experience. Eisner (1998) claimed that experience is the
product of both the “features of the world” and the “biography of the individual” (p. 34). The
experience evokes a qualitative transformation of energy into thoughtful action through the
“assimilation of meanings” of past experiences (Dewey, 1934/2005, p. 62). An individual’s past
influences the experience when it interacts with the individual’s present (Eisner, 1998, p. 34).
The function of the “old and new” is a “re-creation in which the present impulsion gets form and
solidity while the old, ‘stored,’ material is literally revived, given new life” (Dewey, 1934/2005,
p. 63) through a new situation. Dewey (1934/2005) called this conversion of activity an “act of
expression” (p. 63).
To express means to keep the emotion and move it forward toward a completion (Dewey,
1934/2005, pp, 64-69). The function of art is not, according to Langer (1953), for the
“stimulation of feeling” but for the “expression of feeling through symbolic expression of forms
of sentience as the artist understands them” (p. 80). The expression becomes a “clarification of
turbid emotion” (Langer, 1953, p. 81), rather than a simple discharge of emotion. In this way,
the emotion is distinctly aesthetic because it is “induced by expressive material” and “consists of
the transformative” (Langer, 1953, pp. 80-82).
Symbols.
Any device used by an individual to make an abstraction of an idea or feeling from an
experience, such as an image, representation, or an impression, is considered a symbol (Langer,
1953). Symbols illustrate the artist’s imagination of feelings rather than the artist’s own
emotional state and express what the artist knows about the inner life (Langer, 1953, p. 22).

24
Langer (1953) explained the relation between symbol and what it means can be found in music.
Tonal structures create music and “bear a close similarity to forms of human feeling such as
forms of growth, attenuation, flowing, conflict or resolution, speed, arrest, and calm or
excitement” (Langer, 1953, pp. 22-28). Learning how to represent what one has experienced is
“a primary means of expanding the consciousness of others” (Eisner, 2005, p. 297).
The “common function of the aesthetic is to modulate form so it can, in turn, modulate
our experience” (Eisner, 1998, p. 34). In a phenomenological way, the form of the work or
symbol itself informs us and shapes our internal life. Consequently, “individuals need to know
how to read aesthetic forms” (Eisner, 1998, p. 34). Information about the form or symbol is
gathered through the senses and secured, making sense of what is collected such as the prose, the
melody, or the texture of a sculpture. To do this is an “act of discrimination” and a selective
process requiring a “fully engaged mind” yielding “insight and emotion” (Intrator, 2005, p. 178).
Intrator (2005) believed individuals can become “practiced in reading a broad array of forms” (p.
180): poetry, film, novel, expository text, art, sculpture, and the natural world. Cognitive
capacity expands as humans intelligently “‘read’ multiple forms of ‘text’ humans use to express
what they know” (Intrator, 2005, p. 180) or their understanding about an experience. The
experience, therefore, is a product of continuous interaction of the individual with the world and
is the basis of the phenomenological definition of aesthetic as an adjective. “In the end, works of
art are the only media of complete and unhindered communication between [human] and
[human] …” (Dewey, 1934/2005, p. 109).
Imagination within the Aesthetic Response
At the root of every experience lies the interaction of an individual and his or her
environment (Dewey, 1934/2005). The experience becomes a conscious perception when its
meaning is concluded from former experiences. Past experiences, however, can only find their
way into the present through imagination, which is a “conscious adjustment of old and new
meanings” (Dewey, 1934/2005, p. 283). Intrator (2005) argued: “To be imaginative means to
fashion thoughts and feeling in our minds” (p. 179). He explained that we utilize imagination by
taking reality and inventing concepts of what could be. Literal understanding becomes the
launching pad for considering what should be or what will be in an individual’s life. Imagination
in the curriculum is an educator’s tool to stimulate students to see new perspectives, open new

25
avenues of reality, and ponder alternative ways of being (Greene, 1995, p. 18). Aesthetic
education empowers viewers by allowing them to do what Greene (1995) called “releasing
imagination” or opening doors to different realities (as cited in Intrator, 2005, p. 179).
Perceptive Imagination.
Harry Broudy (1977) explained that “perception is the receiving and the interpreting of
information as a guide to action” (p. 7). The “products of perceptive imagination” are images
that convey our feelings, make them perceivable to the senses, and create an objective form for
our experiences (Broudy, 1977, pp. 7-8). Intrator (2005) enhanced this idea when he stated that
events or phenomenon can move individuals in such a way that traditional approaches to
representation are not sufficient to convey the felt experience (p. 181). In these cases, the
imaginative quality that dominates the aesthetic experience lends deeper and wider meanings and
values that can be even more moving than the experience itself. Dewey (1934/2005) concluded
that with the use of imagination, the expression, more than the object itself, expands the
immediate experience. In turn, the viewer of the art object attempts to interpret the experience
with his or her own imaginative perception further compounding the effect of the perceived
experience (Dewey, 1934/2005).
Imaginative release.
Imagination is the heart of the aesthetic process and can disclose provinces of
“possibilities that are personal, social, and aesthetic” and are entered in through “the lenses of
various ways of knowing, seeing, and feeling” (Greene, 2001, p. 65). Greene (1988) espoused:
“Experience becomes fully conscious only when meanings from earlier experiences enter in
through the exercises of the imaginative capacity” (p. 125). Those who can notice and become
part of a work of art through new visions and experiential possibilities are more likely to connect
their own experiences than those who cannot become absorbed in a work of art (Greene, 1978, p.
186).
Greene (1978) explained individuals can release others for this kind of aesthetic “seeing”
by explaining how the arts involve imagination to create products such as paintings, poetry,
sculpture, theater, and film (p. 186). It is the imagination that allows humans to rise beyond the
everyday routine, and it is the artistic-aesthetic that allows them to knit together a new

26
reality. These realities, Greene (1978) explained, are uniquely brought together when humans
explore media in order to both learn to work with it and to try to express something seen, felt, or
heard. Imagination is the essential element that gives the capacity to posit alternative realities
creating “as-if” perspectives. Without the release of imagination, human beings would become
trapped in literalism and would not be able to imagine what could be (Greene, 2001, p. 65).
Emancipatory Value within the Aesthetic Response
Existentialism in the Aesthetic.
Viktor Lowenfeld (1982) stated in his lecture to future art educators that “the most
important thing which art education should do for humans is to make them sensitive to
themselves—to their own problems and to their own environment. Aesthetic experiences
emphasize the values that are important in life” (p. 333). In this way, the aesthetic experience
moves away from a phenomenological act to an existential one. The literature on existential
aesthetic experiences specifically addresses the curriculum in education. In particular, the
educator’s role in creating aesthetic experiences for learners is important, whether they are
experiences that lead to the creation of an aesthetic object or an encounter with an aesthetic
object.
According to Mitchell Bedford (1972), the first principle of existentialism is that
“humans are nothing but what they make of themselves” (p. 219). The goal of existentialism is
to create human awareness of what the individual could become. It grants each human the full
responsibility for his or her existence (Bedford, 1972, p. 8). Following this goal, Martin Buber
(1958), an existential philosopher, believed humans have a “twofold attitude” toward
connections and relations that primary words can define (p. 3). One is called an “I-It attitude,”
and the other is an “I-Thou attitude” (Buber, 1958, p. 4). The “It” refers to an object or being that
can be manipulated by a person. The “Thou,” however, is the highest object that one can find.
The Thou has no bounds and establishes a world of relation (Buber, 1958, pp. 3-6).
Using his theory of a twofold attitude, Buber (1958) explained the aesthetic experience of
art creation and art appreciation as an existential phenomenon:
This is the eternal source of art: a [human] is faced by a form which desires to be
made through [him or her] into [his or her] work. This form is no offspring of
[her or his] soul, but is an appearance which steps up to it and demands of it the

27
effective power. The [human] is concerned with an act of [her or his] being…
[He or she] can neither experience nor describe the form which meets [him or
her], but only body it forth. (pp. 9-10)
Yet, the human can behold the splendor of the confronting form which remains clearer
to the human than anything else in the world, at that moment. To produce the art from such an
encounter is to draw the experience and feelings forth and simultaneously invent it and discover
it. “The work produced is a thing among things, able to be experienced and described as the sum
of qualities. But from time to time it can face the receptive beholder in its whole embodied
form” (Buber, 1958, p. 10).
Sensitivity to the self and one’s own needs is an important part of an existential aesthetic
education. Lowenfeld (1982) explained that most people bury this sensitivity by “surrounding
themselves with meaningless other things” in order to escape the subjective present (p. 335).
Individuals do not want to be stifled by problems so they invent things to distract themselves
such as parties, habits, or work. Bedford (1972) stated it is an existential belief that humans
avoid responsibility for their actions through marginal living that does not fulfill their full
potential. Existentialism, however, is a philosophy designed to encourage humans to consider
and to “actualize their full potential” (Bedford, 1972, p. 8). Likewise, Lowenfeld (1982) believed
that individuals should have time to think about themselves and their problems. With time,
humans could learn to confront their “selves” and to consider and to resolve the injustices that
might have been done to them (p. 336)
Maxine Greene (1978, 1988, 1995, 2001) claimed aesthetic education, rife with aesthetic
experiences, provides existential opportunity for the individual to realize or become sensitive to
him or herself. Aesthetic experience creates the “freedom-space” where imagination can surpass
the barriers to thought, feeling, and action (Broudy, 1977, p. 6). Greene (1978) espoused
freedom, even in freedom-space because freedom “depends on the opportunity to think for
oneself” (p. 7) and to find oneself at whatever stage one may be. Considered as a space for
possibility, the curriculum should enable “occasions for individuals to articulate the themes of
their existence and to reflect on those themes until they know and understand themselves in
relation to the world” (Greene, 1978, p. 19).
Greene (1988) discussed Merleau Ponty’s idea that aesthetic experience is not just a
“deflection of attention from the ordinary life” (p. 124). Instead, it is an exploration of the

28
possibility of seeing “what was ordinarily obscured” by the familiar that it now goes unnoticed
(Ponty, as cited in Greene, 1988, p. 124). Only when these situations are visible can individuals
interpret and understand the new experience or situation. They can clearly view the obstacles
and challenges preventing them from their desires to pursue freedom. She wrote, “Without being
‘onto something’ young people feel little pressure, little challenge. There are no mountains they
want to climb so there are few obstacles with which they need to engage” (Greene, 1988, p.
124). In essence, art becomes an educator’s weapon that takes aim at the hegemonic culture, and
learners cannot stay indifferent. “Once we see our givens as contingencies, then we may have an
opportunity to posit alternative ways of living and valuing and to make choices” (Greene, 1995,
p. 23).
Emancipation in the Aesthetic
Existential, aesthetic experience can adopt a critical theory point of view. Experience
urges individuals to reflect on their current, subjective state of being, ultimately, taking on an
emancipatory realm. Paulo Freire (1990) indicated the “struggle of the oppressed for
emancipation” begins with “human recognition of reality” (p. 55). Liberation, he stated, is a
cycle of individual action and reflection on individual worlds and must take place to transform it
(Freire, 1990, p. 66). The cycle of action and reflection, praxis, engenders continuous dialogue
that must consider the historical situation of the oppressed and his or her perceived reality of that
condition (Freire, 1990, p. 52). When using artwork and aesthetic experience as critical
awareness work, the artwork becomes the medium through which are human problems are posed
and will catalyze the dialogue around the “problems.” According to Friere (1990), “Problem
posing education affirms humans as beings in the process of becoming—as unfinished,
uncompleted beings in and with an unfinished reality” (p.66). An art curriculum that enables this
“problem posing” through the created artwork is not only existential, but is also emancipatory for
students. It equips them to understand the “history of the knowledge structures” they are
encountering and how those knowledge structures relate to human life (Greene, 1978, p. 55).
Through problem posing arts experiences, “a deepened consciousness of their situation”
can lead individuals to better understand the situation as a human reality (Freire, 1990, p. 73).
Dialogue results from this awareness allowing participants to engage in critical thinking that
perceives reality as a process and not as static. It is a risk-free thinking imbued with action that

29
transforms reality into a new, normalized reality (Freire, 1990, p. 81). Consequently, if learning
focuses on the experiences of a lived life, then it should enable individuals “to recognize lacks in
their own situations” (Greene, 1978, p. 19). This type of learning aids individuals to transcend
those “lacks” to discover new realities. New realities encountered through the arts can enable
individuals to foresee and desire a freedom that enables social interactions, encourages
individuals to become active in society, and permits individual contributions (Greene, 1995, p.
39).
Community Creation from the Aesthetic Response
Aesthetic education enables individuals to see things from a larger perspective than their
own. A “wide-awake” perception of an idea moves individuals to recall shared existential
experiences fashioning a communal desire to overcome apathy and extend beyond the present
situations (Greene, 1995, p. 35). Greene (1995) asserted that shared existential, aesthetic
experience projects ethical, community concerns to the foreground. “If imagination is linked to a
sense of possibility and our ability to respond to other human beings, we can link it to the
making of community” (Greene, 1995, p. 38). An individual’s affiliation with the community is
promoted and can foster civic values.
Exposing individuals to art does not lie merely in the idea of having a common language
when speaking about the arts. It is based on the notion that the arts “enable those of us in
partnership like this to understand and to honor one another diverse through our backgrounds and
perspectives, and, yes, obligations [to one another] appear to be” (Greene, 2001, p. 168). The
sharing of works of art familiar to the common life is widely enjoyed in a public and gives signs
of a unified, collective life. For Dewey (1927), it is the emancipatory praxis and the wide-awake
perceptions of artists which gives them the role to deliver factual opinion on public matters. He
believed artists’ lives reach deeper levels. Therefore, Dewey (1927) purported “the function of
art has always been to break through the crust of conventionalized and routine consciousness” (p.
183). The simple making of the experience into a material object of expression is no longer an
isolated event to the artist, but can be “the remaking of community experience in the direction of
greater order and unity” by the nature of it being shared (Dewey, 1934/2005, p. 84). The
perceivers of the given work of art apprehend the work in light of their backgrounds,
biographies, and experiences. “Artists have always been the real purveyors of news, for it is not

30
the outward happening in itself which is new, but the kindling by it of emotion, perception, and
appreciation” (Dewey, 1927, p. 184).
In a communal setting, new worlds open to enable the formation of a community that
shares a rich dialogue and a sharing of certain beliefs. Democracy and dialogue can happen in a
space where individuals find their distinct voices and lend importance to the identifying of
shared beliefs (Greene, 1995, p. 42). Diverse individuals can speak to one another as “who they
are,” and they can feel free to create in and between themselves (Greene, 1995, p. 39). For
example, the in between arises when individuals objectify their expressions in any art form for
others to respond to or to understand (Hannah Arendt, as cited in Greene, 1995, p. 39).
This type of community is not rationally or formally created such as with contracts
(Greene, 1995, p. 39). It is a community achieved by persons who are offered freedom space to
discover what they recognize and appreciate together and contributes to the use and distribution
of shared goods, such as ways of being together and of reaching some common world they value
mutually. Members in this type of community discover ways to make intersubjective sense and
to imagine future possibilities for their group’s becoming (Greene, 1995, p. 39).
Greene (1995) declared intersubjective sense comes from people “being together in a
particular way” (p. 40). When experienced with others, this knowing of each other draws
individuals together in a revitalized community with active reciprocity among the members.
Buber’s (1958) I-Thou relationship experience may best explain the intersubjective sense of
which Greene (1995) speaks. Bedford (1972) described a meeting as the I-Thou relationship in
which “two people encounter each other in such a way that they do not really perceive the object
reality of each other” (p. 99). Instead they blend together so a feeling of unity exists between the
two. Bedford (1972) explained that “neither is trying to accomplish some alternative motif, but
both find themselves lifted above the time-space sphere” and are “hardly aware of the
interrupting forces in their environment or of the time that passes during their encounter” (p. 99).
The relation to the Thou is direct and requires no former knowledge of the other (Buber, 1958, p.
11). It occurs “only when all obstacles collapse” (Buber, 1958, p. 12). Love, according to Buber
(1958) “is responsibility of an I for a Thou” (p. 15). The relation is mutual: “My Thou affects
me, as I affect it” (Buber, 1958, p. 15).
A community cannot arise without “active reciprocity” (Greene, 1995, p. 40) and
aesthetic experience. Experience with artwork can provide it while causing “obstacles to

31
collapse” (Buber, 1958, p. 12). Through the discovery of unseen and unknown dimensions to
aesthetic experience, individuals can desire new experiences that lead toward community. Links
created between individuals such as actors, characters, and/or subjects within artwork frees the
imagination. “Windows will open as the actual and new alternatives for living become clear”
(Greene, 1995, p. 42).
Empathy in the aesthetic realm gives individuals the “capacity to see through another’s
eyes” to understand how the world appears from another’s point of view (Greene, 2001, p.
102). By offering aesthetic experiences in the arts in classrooms and in other public venues,
encounters with art works can engage many individuals in dialogue and can provide the
opportunity for communal decisions (Greene, 2001, p. 107). Individuals will connect their
personal histories to one another and will be provoked to “imaginatively transmute some of their
stories into media” (Greene, 1995, p. 42). The objectification of the stories allows individuals to
look, think, respond, and move forward together as a group. A gradual consciousness of selves
as members of a community contributes to community creation in public venues through shared,
aesthetic responses to art objects, events, and programs presented by and through both the formal
education setting and the informal public setting.
The Idea of Community Defined
The idea of community is a multi-layered, morphed concept that is contextualized within
place and time. The term is often used in broader, vernacular ways to define group existence, to
define what the group wants to achieve, or to define how the group functions within its
membership. The definition can change, depending on the time period and the use, to focus on
any one of those three intents. As history has progressed, the theories of community have
layered onto each other to reflect the political and social situations of each current time period
and, therefore, have changed the definitions of community that have been applied. Philosophies
and definitions of community are derived from those originating with Plato, Aristotle, Cicero,
Arabian thinkers, church fathers, and German social thinkers (Pitirim in Tӧnnies, 1887/2002, p.
vii). Tӧnnies (1887/2002) purported that human beings are social and will come together in
many ways to support each other and to make change together. Various historical phenomenon
and intents for community work have caused different parts of those philosophies to be
emphasized. For example, theories of community and society were created to describe the social

32
function of humans during the industrial revolution. Tӧnnies (1887/2002) confirmed Aristotle
and Hobbes’ focus on “different aspects of social life” through the understanding that human
beings, “by their very nature, are social beings who unfold their true essence” by living in
“communities of kinship (neighborhoods) and spirit, and are capable of forming associations by
agreements” in an effort to attain certain ends (p. ix).
Another example of community theory is found in the American political and social
foundation, which is grounded in positive and negative freedoms and how the individual is
defined (Knight-Abowitz, 2000, p. 8). These political theories and America’s diverse history
feed current debates emphasizing whether the community or the individual should be the
defining character in the “democratic state” (Knight-Abowitz, 2000, p. 8). America’s heritage,
as described by Knight-Abowitz (2000), created the current tensions of communitarian and
liberal philosophies.7
Wars against totalitarian regimes, and sociopolitical movements, such as
the civil rights movement, lent credibility to liberal philosophical “themes of universal, natural,
and individual rights” (Knight-Abowitz, 2000, p. 37). Communitarian reformers, however, seek
to make public spaces, such as schools and townships, “less liberal, with greater moral depth”
and seek more “moral coherence in the midst of a confused cultural context” (Knight-Abowitz,
2000, p. 49). Knight-Abowitz (2000) explained that “themes of decentralization, local
governance, community, caring, and high moral and intellectual standards” (p. 49) can be linked
to communitarian reformers. Communitarianism is a driving factor for community-based
programming to connect individuals together.
To look at the definition of community from our 21st century vantage point, it appears as
an often-used term that begins to lose its original meanings in order to take on tributary meanings
of different intents. For this study, the focus is not on community as an organizing or functional
concept, but as a phenomenon that occurs within certain conditions creating a freedom space in
which individuals can connect to one another through their pursuit of shared goods (Buber, 1975;
Bedford, 1972; Dewey, 1927; Greene, 1995; Lave & Wenger, 1991; E. Turner, 2012; V. Turner,
1969). For this reason, pragmatist and existentialist definitions of community serve to frame
Greene’s (1995) existential view of community creation through aesthetic experiences. Victor
7
The philosophical terms of liberal and communitarian are distinct from the current popular political terms.
Philosophical liberalism is defined by Knight-Abowitz (2000) as a theoretical commitment to extensive individual
liberties. Philosophical communitarianism is defined by Knight-Abowitz (2000) as a philosophy in which
individuals can be understood first as community members reflecting their traditions, belief systems, and roles.

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE FOUND IN AN ARTS COUNCIL'S EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE FOUND IN AN ARTS COUNCIL'S EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

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